


Mara

by JadeDjo



Series: Fathers and Daughters [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Child Abandonment, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Human Trafficking, The Empire doing bad things, the empire, this can only end in tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 17:15:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15823398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeDjo/pseuds/JadeDjo
Summary: Star Wars loves orphans, but not all characters are missing their parents. Some still have one left. Their Father.But sometimes those fathers are worth losing. How Mara Jade was found by the Empire.





	Mara

Mara Jade was very happy. She was told that she would get to go to the Imperial gardens with her papa. He had told her over dinner that they would be going and to look her best when they left. To a five-year-old, this meant that she would have her mama put her red-gold hair into braids and to tie them off with green ribbon to match her dress. So when dawn came, even before her parents were up little Mara scampered out of bed to begin her preparations. Of course this meant that she had to wake up her mama so she could do Mara’s hair.

Opening the door and walking over to her mama’s side of the bed, she quickly found her mother awake and crying. Worry quickly overrode her desire to get her hair done. “Mama? You Okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine sweetie, just a bad dream.”

Mara took this to be an expectable answer and immediately started to explain how she wanted her hair done. After an hour she was satisfied with her appearance and when her mama called her for breakfast she proudly walked into the kitchen. As expected her papa gave her a big smile and swept her into his arms.

“You look just like a little princess,” he told her.

“Yes Papa, ‘cause you say only princesses get to see the gardens.”

“That’s right.” He said, putting her back down.

“Come Mara, even princess need to eat breakfast. You don’t want to miss anything because you didn’t have enough energy,” her mama put in.

“Yes Mama,” she said and tried not to stuff the food in her mouth all at once.

Even with her restraint Mara still finished first and had to wait as her papa seemed to take extra long in eating. Finally, he took his last bit and got up from the table and said, “Well now, what pretty girl would like to go to the Imperial Gardens with me today?”   
  
“Me, me, me!”

“Then I choose Mara to go with me. Are you ready.”

“Yes! Yes I ready!” she said in a rush. She could hardly contain her enthusiasm.

“Then get your coat and lets go.”

In her rush to do as her papa said and her excitement at leaving with him, little Mara Jade failed to notice that her mama had once again started to cry.

The trip in the air taxi, flying towards the Capital District, was just as hard to sit through as breakfast had been. Mara’s papa kept on having to remind her not to bang her feet against the pilot’s seat. After the fifth reminder, her papa also told her that if the pilot got distracted because she was kicking his seat and they crashed then she would never be able to go to the Gardens. At this Mara tried to sit as still as possible. But she couldn’t keep her eyes still. Everywhere she looked she saw something new. Imperial Center was a wonder of architecture and even though she had taken walks through the city with her mama, flying over it was something completely different. She never felt so free.

All to soon the pilot announced they had arrived and Mara took her papa’s hand as they disembarked. Before them was a massive building with nothing but glass for walls. Even for a five-year-old, she practically dragged her papa up the steps to the main entrance. Once again having to wait as her papa paid their admission, Mara thought of all the beautiful plants house behind those clear walls. In fact, her mama had once told her that she had fallen in love with her papa in the Ithorian section of the gardens. That was one place Mara was sure to make her papa take her.

Finally they were let in and Mara just had to stop and stare. Everything in side was the complete opposite of outside. There were greens of every shade imaginable in one area. In another was an absolute rainbow of flowers. Even the desert areas were beautiful with all of there reds, oranges, and yellows.

At first her papa would let her look at ever flower, tree and bush from each exhibit. Yet as they progressed farther and farther into the gardens he began to limit there time until they no longer stopped when passing into a new area. By this time Mara was literally being dragged behind her papa. She tried to call out for him to stop but would just get another jerk on the arm and was then told to walk faster.

By the time they reached the swamps of Dagobah they began to slow down and finally stopped behind a moss covered tree. Mara didn’t like the place one bit. It was cold despite the humidity in the air. A coldness that came from the inside rather than the temperature.

Not wanting to be anywhere near this area, Mara tried to tell her papa that she wanted to leave. All she got in return was a tug on her arm and told to be quiet. This only made her unease grow. There was just something wrong, but she couldn't figure out what.

It turned out she didn't have to wait long to answer her own question. The artificial mist parted and out came a man dressed all in black. Or at least Mara assumed it was black because the man also wore a cloak that covered most of his form including his head from the hood. As he walked towards her, Mara could feel the malevolent intent radiating from him. She was frozen in place as she watched him almost float nearer.

When he came with in a few paces from her and her papa, the man began to speak. Just like the aura he gave off his voice was hard and cold with none of the kindness she was used to hearing from her mama and papa. Mara heard none of what he said and tried to hide herself behind her papa's legs. But when her papa spoke back to the man, it was with nearly the same frigidness as the man. Shocked to hear her papa talk this way Mara couldn't help but listen.

"Yes I have her. But first I want what's mine."

"You'll get your money when the Emperor is satisfied that she is trainable."

"That wasn’t the deal."

"We are altering the deal."

"But.."

"Would you like to take this up with His Majesty and see what he has to say about it?"

"No."

"Good. Now had her over."

Mara didn’t really know what they were talking about, nor did she want to stay and find out. Something inside her told her that she needed to leave. Right now.

She wasn't fast enough. Just as she started to turn to leave her papa grabbed her hard by the arm. It was a grip she knew she'd never be able to break. This didn't keep her from trying. "Papa, please. I wanna go home now."

"We can't princess," he said with a much more soothing voice. "But it's alright. You're going to go with Mr. Ba'tark. He's going to take care of you now."

Mara almost believed him, yet the feeling of danger seemed only to grow. "No Papa! Only want you and Mama!"

"Keep it quiet," Mr. Ba'tark said.

"Five-year-olds aren't stupid. They know when something's wrong," her papa hissed back at him. Then turning back to Mara he said, "Listen baby, nothings going to hurt you, but you have to go with Mr. Ba'tark. Mama and I can no longer take care of you."

"But why," she said. Mara was so scared and confused that tears had started to roll down he cheeks.

"We just can't, ok?"

"NO!" Mara was sobbing uncontrollably now and could barely get the word out before a rough hand grabbed her and picked her up.

"Enough of this. Time to go." Mr. Ba'tark threw her over his shoulder and began to walk away.

"Wait! Papa!!" Struggling to free herself only earned her a jab in the side.

"Goodbye my little Mara. Be a good girl." This was all her papa said as she was carried farther and farther away.

"Papa! Papa!" Mara shouted between sobs. But he didn’t respond. Instead he turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction. This was the last time she ever saw her papa again. For just as he was about to round a bend in the trail she felt a stab of pain in her arm and looked down just in time to see Mr. Stark pull a hypospray from it. Turning back to get a last glimpse as her papa turned the bend the world started to go dark. Then nothing.

 

 


End file.
